AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Children are born preferring sweet tastes, which attract them to mother’s milk and even act as an analgesic. They prefer higher levels of sweet than do adults, with preferences declining to adult levels during middle to late adolescence, which coincides with the cessation of physical growth.

Detailed explanation-2: -"The relationship between sweet preference and growth makes intuitive sense because when growth is rapid, caloric demands increase. Children are programmed to like sweet taste because it fills a biological need by pushing them towards energy sources, ” said Monell geneticist Danielle Reed, PhD, one of the study authors.

Detailed explanation-3: -Shortly after birth, young infants show characteristic taste preferences: sweet and umami elicit positive responses; bitter and sour elicit negative responses. These taste preferences may reflect a biological drive towards foods that are calorie-and protein-dense and an aversion to foods that are poisonous or toxic.

Detailed explanation-4: -Children are born with a biological predisposition to prefer sweet and to avoid bitter foods such as green leafy vegetables. It has been hypothesized that this predisposition evolved to attract children to energy-dense foods while discouraging the consumption of toxins.

Detailed explanation-5: -Newborns show a consistent preference for looking at faces relative to other stimuli throughout infancy. Newborns’ ability to recognize facelike patterns suggests that they may have an inherent ability to perceive faces before having actually viewed a face.